Product description : A card is named by the spectator, it visually appears on a bulldog clip and it's actually their card ! A routine packed with visual magic and « mentalism », is it good or not, let's find out !
Price and where to buy it : This is sold at $99.95 and you can find it in nearly every Murphy's partner shop !
What you get : You get a nice little cardboard box with quite a lot of stuff inside. You get a very well gimmicked pad, the gimmicked bulldog clip, a DVD and some sheets of paper (some of them are printed with cards, astrological signs and some of them are blank so you can customize them as you like). The quality of the DVD is good, pretty straight forward but a nice little production. The quality of the props is very good, one little con is about the cards but more about that later. I think for the price you're paying, you don't feel ripped off at all.
The pros and the cons : Here is the core of my review, let's begin with the cons, as I will usually be doing, I prefer to keep the good things for the end.
THE CONS :
My main concern is about the cards, they are made out of paper. (Which helps in the method, you couldn't have them made in real cardboard material) but this brings some problems like the transparency, you can see through them quite easily so you have to be aware of the lightening conditions. Also, they don't look like real card if you watch closely but that's a non issue I think, spectators are not used to seeing bicycle cards (in France at least).
The other one being the pad in itself, don't get me wrong, it's nicely made and works fine but I think another system in the pocket or elsewhere would have been maybe better. Here, you are doing some « bizarre » stuff with the pad and its justification isn't always very motivated.
THE PROS :
I fell in love with the bulldog clip ! It's such an inspirationnal object, he could have sold it for $40, I wouldn't be disappointed ! It's a very clever piece of kit, not completely angle proof but you can put it close to your body to avoid those problems. The appareance of the card is very visual and I think it would be a wonderful closer for any ambitious card routine. This is really an highlight of the set, you can really do endless things with it.
The principle he used for the card (those who have his way out XII will understand) is very ingenious. I think using those cards and another i**** system would be the perfect mix. It's very clean if handled properly and you can really display ANY card !
My complain about the pad doesn't mean it's not well made. You can feel the time and the care that have been put inside this project and it does justify the price tag. yes it's expensive but you do get a lot of stuff.
The fact multiple sheets of paper are included so you can place them in the pad to customise it however you want is a very nice attention. Sometimes, you have an idea but you can't do it because the props can't be modified, here, you do get the opportunity to invent your own presentation and this is very good I think.
You're not limited to « think of a card », you can do a revelation of astrological signs and I think, with a little bit of thought, you could do many more things with it.
Overall rating : This is really a nice project, maybe not something which will replace my invisible deck routine but I will definately have the bulldog clip on me as well as a few cards he provides, I think you can do great things with them, 3/4 hearts.
As for the difficulty level, nothing complicated, you'll have to watch your angles a little bit (but there are still very good) and get the knack, 2/5 stars.
Similar products : There are several products which can achieve pretty much the same effect in people's mind. The invisible deck, The Lynx Wallet and all the tricks like Heirloom, Kolossal Killer and so on. But I think it's the first time I see it done with folded cards.
Thanks to Murphys Magic for sending me this product !